China Flies Jade Rabbit Rover to the Moon

Today in international tech news: A Chinese rover is heading for the moon. Also: the Netherlands' privacy watchdog says Google is breaking the law; the week's first Snowden revelation paints Australia as an eager data-peddler; Beijing declares victory over online rumors; and Vodafone Iceland is hacked.

Dutch Accuse Google of Breaking Data Protection Laws

Google is and has been violating Dutch privacy laws, according to the Netherlands' privacy watchdog, the Dutch Data Protection Authority.

After a seven-month investigation, the DPA concluded that Google's practice of combining data on users across the company's different services -- Gmail, YouTube, etc. -- is in breach of national law.

Google didn't clearly specify for what purpose it was collecting data, the DPA said. Dutch law does indeed allow for individuals' info to be gathered, but only for a particular purpose -- something Google didn't clarify, according to the DPA.

Google, which overhauled its privacy policy in March of 2012, insists that its privacy policy adheres to European law.

Snowden Doc: Australia Down to Share Info

Australia's surveillance agency offered to share information about citizens with its intelligence allies, according to a document leaked by Edward Snowden.

The revelation is noteworthy because Australian intelligence was apparently willing to dish info without acknowledging certain privacy constraints adhered to by other intelligence partners. (The document shows that Canada, for instance, was less gung-ho about the information swapping.)

The secret document, from 2008, shows that "to some extent at least, there is warrantless surveillance of Australians' personal metadata," according to The Guardian, which has been at the forefront of all things Snowden since the leaks began in June.

Beijing Pleased With Its Web Cleansing

Chinese officials say that their crackdown against online rumors, negativity and anything else deemed uncouth has been successful.

Curiously invoking air pollution, something China has had ongoing
problems
with, the nation's vice minister of the State Internet Information Office, Ren Xianliang, told foreign reporters that "the sky of the cyberspace has cleared up now because we have cracked down on online rumors."

The crackdown -- which set stiff penalties for social media posts that were viewed 5,000 times or re-posted 500 times -- resulted in dozens of arrests and, according to an Internet opinion study, may have prompted a decrease in microblog use among opinion leaders.

Vodafone Iceland Hacked, Info Posted

The customer records of nearly 80,000 customers of Vodafone Iceland were hacked and posted online, meaning about 25 percent of the 320,000-person nation could have been affected.

The hack was noticed Saturday, according to Icelandic media, and was purportedly executed by Turkish hackers. Vodafone acknowledged the mess on Sunday but denied reports that personal data such as bank account numbers and passwords had been divulged.

The info that was hacked and published reportedly comes from 2011 and contains private correspondences between Iceland politicians, who had some rather blunt things to say about the nation's prime minister.